How to Build an Audience for Your Film Using YouTube (the Right Way)

In the last three years, my company has driven millions of people to our videos and our clients' videos, and turned many of those people into advocates for the material they see. We've done it through social networking, sharing, generating traditional PR, postings and links from blogs and websites, audience development and good old fashioned advertising.

Along the way, I've learned a few things about what YouTubers like (and don't like!). I'm applying what I've learned to promoting my new film, Drinking Games(premiering in LA on June 4th), and I thought other indie filmmakers who self-distribute -- or need to compliment their distributor's lackluster marketing efforts -- might benefit from reading about my experiences past, present and, eventually, future.

So, here goes:

How do we generate YouTube views?
48 hours of video are posted to YouTube EVERY MINUTE. There's no way your videos are just going to be stumbled upon. You must bring people to the forest to hear the tree fall.

There are three basic ways to drive eyeballs to your videos.

Share them across social networks, and give others a reason(s) to do the same.

Get postings and links from websites that already have large audiences.

Ari and his team created an entire 70-video YouTube promotional campaign featuring original videos, deleted scenes, constant updates and interaction -- all free to the end user. Their videos have received over 500K views, gained over 3,000 subscribers, and three of his videos even reached the front page of YouTube, officially going viral. The YouTube fan base has led to stronger DVD and digital sales.

The Graduates was the #1 comedy on Hulu for months, and remains in the Top 10 all-time after two years. We’re competing with major studio films and stars and have held our ground for two full years. Though filmmakers remain skeptical about Hulu, we’ve had a wonderful, profitable experience there, and the hundreds of thousands of people who have seen our film have in many cases followed us across social media, bought the film or the soundtrack, and remained responsive to the projects we’ve released since meeting them. The majority of our viewers discover the film through a few consistently updated YouTube channels and web series.

Two of the strongest performing videos are linked here. Notice that they appear to have nothing to do with the film or product they’re selling:

Marketing Power with a Halloween music video; 199,000+ views; officially viral, making it to the Front Page of YouTube.

Marketing 1800Recycling with funny “Fail” videos; 3,000,000+ views; Three videos went officially viral, making it to the Front Page of YouTube.

These are two of over 30 pieces of content we've taken viral for clients big and small. Couple this with a consistent output of content and some audience interaction, and you will have an active and growing subscriber base.

"Why does this matter, or how does this help?" are the questions we hear most often when explaining the value of a successful viral video or web series to a potential client.

Taking the examples above, there's obvious value in getting hundreds of thousands of people to interact with your material. Couple that with a widely available film, and the viral video that had nothing to do with your movie just became a great ad for you and the film. People who are truly entertained by the viral video will visit your channel and poke around, and that's when they're most receptive to marketing materials like the trailer. You've won them over by not marketing at them, and now they will seek out your marketing. As the price of digital goods rapidly drops toward zero, filmmakers who build an audience on YouTube will have a huge advantage when it comes time to ask people to pony up for a ticket, a download, a soundtrack (unless you decide to make your soundtrack free) or a t-shirt, because not only will they want to spend (to help you keep producing content) they'll also share the videos, becoming advocates who advertise on your behalf.

What are some good benchmarks in terms of reasonable numbers to shoot for in terms of trailer views?

This is a complicated question, because we can assist clients in getting any amount of views, so it completely depends on two things: your budget, and your audience. If you've spent time developing an audience, you have to spend a lot less to get and keep people interested, which is why we provide so much (and such specific) advice on audience development before, during and after filming. If you've done nothing to develop an audience, it's going to cost money to get real eyeballs on your marketing material. Simply uploading a trailer to YouTube is a good step- it's about as basic and necessary as a website- but it doesn't guarantee a single view. I would focus the benchmarks on content creation and interaction with fans -- try to create and upload one new piece each week for a year. If you have a good concept and you interact with fans, your material will stand out, because you're a filmmaker, after all, making interesting content is your life.

Any other good marketing platforms you work with to market films?

We use Twitter and Facebook, of course, but there is no silver bullet. You must (again) create content and interact with fans. The digital revolution continues to bring prices down, but the upside is that the same outlets that bring prices down also corral audiences into niches. 85% of the country visits YouTube, every conceivable niche is represented there, and they're all looking for entertaining content. It can be a massive platform for any filmmaker. Another upside of the digital and social media revolution is that with so many on-demand options, audiences are seeking and finding more and more independent films, months and years after their release and sharing their discoveries with friends. The need for an "opening weekend" is moot. Don't get me wrong, if you can have a big opening weekend anywhere, take it. But if not, your movie on Netflix or Hulu will look just as fresh in a year as it does today. We advise clients to keep their YouTube and social media presence just as vibrant and fresh two years after their release as on Day 1.

Bottom line: releasing an indie film today is much closer to opening a small web-based business than it is to releasing a studio film. How to put this into practice:

The perfect version of this is a filmmaker who spends the year leading up to her film shoot video blogging about the fundraising process, casting, producing, and any fears, hopes and challenges they face. These should be posted regularly, and interspersed with funny or interesting scripted content with a homemade feel, nothing too precious.

These videos establish her voice and build a small but loyal audience who happen to like that voice. Then the filmmaker uploads a few homemade videos from the set, showing off the cast and crew continuing the themes established in pre-production: it's important to think of your audience as peers. They're going to be cool with talking shop, so she should provide tips & tricks along with a personal look at the process.

In the 6-12 months following production, the filmmaker continues to create and post videos on a set schedule, with material growing progressively more produced, while remaining entertaining. Again, interspersed with scripted, themed content. For instance, if the film is about a chef, the filmmaker could have a homemade, super-low-budget cooking show about how they get by on a freelancer or indie filmmaker living.

Every tenth video could be a clip from the film or a trailer or some piece of fun marketing material. There might be three or four these total in the 6-12 months of post-production. All the while, she would interact with fans, commenting on other filmmakers’ videos and channels, subscribing to channels and YT’ers with interests related to her film. Assuming her film – like most of our films – does not get a huge distribution deal, and she partners with an aggregator to make the film available on Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and VOD, she would then post those links on her YouTube channel and script and upload a personal video blog about where people can find the film.

Finally, she should spend the next year creating and uploading funny or interesting videos along a regular schedule, interacting with fans and producers constantly, and remind people once every three months that they can find her film on the relevant outlets. This is how she can build and maintain an audience – if she’s going to be making films for a while, it’s a good investment of her time and energy. People will connect with her and her voice, and will look for ways to engage others on the filmmaker’s behalf.

Kevin Smith and Miranda July are two great examples of filmmakers who use a similar approach to attract and grow an audience.

Here are a few key techniques and best practices for building one's audience or community via YouTube.

YouTube eliminates the distance between producer and user. This is the single most important thing to remember when trying to market on YouTube, and here’s why: along with the ability to create and upload self-produced content comes the desire to interact with other creators, peers. So, YT is built and populated by tens of millions of people who interact with content and producers horizontally, not people who want to passively accept content dropped vertically from studios above.

If you decide to step into their world, you have to understand and respect their mindset and tailor your marketing accordingly. In short, it shouldn’t feel like marketing.

Producers who succeed on YouTube create videos that feel homemade, personally delivered by a real human being, not a big Hollywood team directly to the individual audience member. This is why producers who present themselves to the YT community do better than filmmakers who only present their film, or their trailer. YT is not a dumping ground for deleted scenes and outtakes, it’s a place people come to be entertained. Finally, YT’ers do carry over some traits of traditional television audiences -- they like content they can count on. Videos that feel like standalone material aren’t worth connecting with, because there’s no promise of future entertainment. You have a dramatically higher chance of getting subscribers -- and having your videos shared -- if you upload regularly, on a given day, at a given time, with fresh content.

So… the takeaways are:

Interact with every audience member, from day one. They’re your peers as well as audience.

Don’t just market. Create content that seeks to entertain.

Post consistently, for a long time.

These three things turn a lot of filmmakers off, and I understand that. We want to make films, and leave the marketing to others. That mindset -- while totally understandable -- is why so many films just sit on the shelf. Marketing is a lot of work, but if you invest the time wisely and follow the three simple guidelines above, you can build an audience over time.

Do you think this kind of marketing should be a distributor's job or are you willing to put in the work to create all of this additional content? Do you consider online audience building to be a necessary part of a filmmaker's job or do you shudder at the prospect? Do you have any tips that I missed? Let's open it for discussion!

Your Comment

45 Comments

Grownups with ad/marketing budgets need metrics to show success, or ROI (return on investment). So, making it to the front page of YT is one of those metrics, and a really important one at that. I'm always open to hearing other ways to measure virality on YT though, so feel free to post them here.

This just seems like one very long, free advert for Ryan's company. Sorry. But I didn't learn a dime's worth of info from this or 'how' any of those films 'went viral'. We all tweet, and facebook our work, it doesn't mean that people watch it. Surely the most important, key ingredient is always luck. That someone will find something and share it. That there's a tie in with something popular at that moment, the 'now' factor is massive online, to see what is trending and follow that wave.

Sort of in agreement - the article comes on a little strong in the "I'm successful, believe me, here's proof" department. My biggest take-away was "releasing an indie film today is much closer to opening a small web-based business than it is to releasing a studio film" - especially when dealing with money that is not your own and has other people behind it, I can see where this mentality is vitally important.

Hey guys- understood, just wanted to add some credibility to the article to stem the tide of negative comments any time someone posts about virality, etc, etc.

Luck is not the most important factor, though it helps. The title of the article is focused on audience building, remember. Though I talk about viral stuff, the big point is that: the only reason we’re able to take things viral is because those videos are supported by a large of network of audiences we’ve built, helped build, or the original company or filmmaker has built.

So, there’s plenty of helpful stuff in here about how to build the most important thing, an audience. I’ve condensed it here for those who just want to be negative and turn off any reception to the actual meat of the post. Even for that person, these should cut through the haze of negativity and give them something useful to act upon:

1. Interact with every audience member, from day one. They’re your peers as well as audience.

2. Don’t just market. Create content that seeks to entertain.

3. Post consistently, for a long time.

4. We use Twitter and Facebook, of course, but there is no silver bullet. These should be seen as support mechanisms for constant interaction, not as “the answer.”

5. There are three basic ways to drive eyeballs to your videos: (a) Share them across social networks, and give others a reason(s) to do the same. (b) Get postings and links from websites that already have large audiences. (c) Advertise your videos online and on mobile devices. Point (b) is often overlooked as old-school, but one of the great things about microblogs and websites is they’ve done the hardwork of growing a niche audience. If your video is entertaining to their audience, and you reach out politely and with genuine enthusiasm, they will share the video and help generate the audience/views/interaction. If you get posts from ten microblogs for each video you put out, you’re going to generate real interest/shares/interaction.

There’s more in the article, but no point in posting the entire thing twice. Best of luck to you both. Hope this is more than a dime’s worth of advice in two free posts :)

I found some of the information useful. Posting regularly will get you constant viewers and the tips about posting behind the scenes content was also a great tip. I found this post useful and will defiantly take this into consideration in my upcoming YouTube channel I will be making to share my short films and will use the same format for Vimeo. Thank you!

Glad this was useful. Consistent posting and interaction is key. People rarely plan for the long term, but that's what keeps audiences coming back. On the shoot for Drinking Games we actually set aside a full day to shoot content for this purpose, on top of the behind the scenes material we shot. I've also gotten a good, consistent response for a series called Indie Filmmaking Tips & Tricks I released on YT, Vimeo and Hulu. I stupidly only made 5 videos, but this was back on my first feature, The Graduates. Other filmmakers passed them around because they were helpful and funny. That's another key- the more utility your content has- tips, tricks, advice- the more people will want to interact with it. As you see in the comments here and on other posts, people will also dissect it, but those are the exceptions to the rule. Most people will pull out the most useful bits for their own growth. Good luck, please keep me posted on your work!

Hey guys- understood, just wanted to add some credibility to the article to stem the tide of negative comments any time someone posts about virality, etc, etc.

Luck is not the most important factor, though it helps. The title of the article is focused on audience building, remember. Though I talk about viral stuff, the big point is that: the only reason we're able to take things viral is because those videos are supported by a large of network of audiences we've built, helped build, or the original company or filmmaker has built.

So, there's plenty of helpful stuff in here about how to build the most important thing, an audience. I've condensed it here for those who just want to be negative and turn off any reception to the actual meat of the post. Even for that person, these should cut through the haze of negativity and give them something useful to act upon:

1. Interact with every audience member, from day one. They’re your peers as well as audience.

2. Don’t just market. Create content that seeks to entertain.

3. Post consistently, for a long time.

4. We use Twitter and Facebook, of course, but there is no silver bullet. These should be seen as support mechanisms for constant interaction, not as "the answer."

5. There are three basic ways to drive eyeballs to your videos: (a) Share them across social networks, and give others a reason(s) to do the same. (b) Get postings and links from websites that already have large audiences. (c) Advertise your videos online and on mobile devices. Point (b) is often overlooked as old-school, but one of the great things about microblogs and websites is they've done the hardwork of growing a niche audience. If your video is entertaining to their audience, and you reach out politely and with genuine enthusiasm, they will share the video and help generate the audience/views/interaction. If you get posts from ten microblogs for each video you put out, you're going to generate real interest/shares/interaction.

There's more in the article, but no point in posting the entire thing twice. Best of luck to you both. Hope this is more than a dime's worth of advice in two free posts :)

Thanks for taking the time to share a little of your insight. Your last three bullet points are very true - good common sense that bears repeating (I hope all the readers notice you adhering to #1 here in the comments which have been, to say, mixed).

My initial post - harsh (and I apologize). I saw that link pop up in my Twitter right after reading your column, the timing was uncanny. As someone that works for a small business, in addition to owning company that specializes in small business advertising (as I imagine many NFS readers do to help fund their filmmaking), I'm constantly thinking about, discussing, and selling the benefits of online video. Those discussions with potential clients often drift to viewer counts and that now-dreaded phrase "virality". I personally try to avoid the numbers, inasmuch as a metric that changes from client to client - a mom and pop sandwich shop could have great success with 1,000 video views, but that number would be embarrassing for, say, Volkswagen.

You do make a point of saying that good content is king, which I also know to be the real driver of potential engagement and, for business clients, ROI. The Onion article just happened to pop up, and perfectly satirized the current conversation around web marketing these days. Not that you ever stated that YT views are the only metric, Ryan, but I'd worry that my fellow NFS readers could get caught on that without first developing goals - what is the audience you want to reach with your content, and how do you measure that and define success?

For example, those "cell phones popping pop corn" videos racked up a bunch of views - but they were really supposed to advertise a company that makes Bluetooth headsets. The initial videos were seen a bunch, but I doubt many viewers ever heard the second part of the story. (http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp)

Speaking as someone that doesn't have a company that can boast millions of views and thousands of subscribers (again, like most NFS readers), I would like to throw in my two cents in addition to your comments: 1. Know your target audience - how big it is, and what they want to see 2. Develop a plan with goals to help you track your success 3. Like Ryan said, post consistently, with *relevant* *engaging* content 4. Also like Ryan said, paying to promote your videos on YouTube will help increase your potential viewership.

Thanks again for sharing, Ryan.

- To prove I have some idea of what I'm talking about - last summer, to promote a play in Minneapolis' Fringe Festival, which has 167 plays in two weeks, I was asked to film a trailer for one of the shows, which was about knitting. I made a fake-horror movie trailer for the festival website using dialog mostly from the script. The video had just over 1,000 views, but was featured on several local arts blogs, and the play - again, about knitting - sold the 10th most tickets out of the 167 shows. Btw, I hated the mic I used at the time - I know the sound is awful :-)

Started to reply but browser crashed (Chrome!). I love this example of local marketing. More theater companies should do this. It's a tough sell because money is always so tight, and Equity rules are brutal, but this coule be such a boon to any production. Well done, sir. The opening shot with the string trailing behind was especially funny. No worries about the onion post, I thought it was funny.

Regardless of what you think of Mr. Gielen, what about his perspective on getting viewers to your work do you disagree with? Treating the audience as discerning partners in your future, letting them see how you pull off certain shots, networking with like-minded websites, separates your work from quite a few.

Then be yourself, and be consistent.

If people like Ted Hope didn't echo developing online connections and interest for anything you want produced from concept on, it might sound like "Hype anything: and win!". And it seems like you shouldn't have to win a popularity contest with numbers to be taken seriously. But, you kinda do.

Still, I don't see the conflict with integrity and self-promotion. The choices are yours. It's industry/marketing people that will ask you to change for their consideration. That's the devil in the pail moonlight. If your lucky.

Awesome article. Really helpful. Not something I'm excited about doing, other than making short videos everyday to showcase my awesome humor, but the marketing not so much. That being said, it is essential to a project and I will do it. And with a little more clarity after this article.

I love the idea that if you keep honing your creative practice through relentless expression of whatever uniqueness you have, then there is every possibility of getting a modest following of people who love what you do and are willing to pay for it. Assuming modern civilisation can hold itself together, of course.

Not sure how much this relates to marketing, but reading these comments made me want to say something positive. Guess I kind of blew it with that last bit about modern civilisation. Oh well : (

If you're going to use Kevin Smith and Miranda July as examples of filmmakers who are successful with "this method" shouldn't you remind your readers to be Official Selections at Sundance like the filmmakers you reference? Or am I being too picky?

Interaction is key. take twitter as an example, I don't have the largest following and don't tweet very frequently. but I always get new followers whenever i interact with other people on twitter, not when just randomly tweet links and other info. also, what do you think of Klout, Ryan?

Good point about Twitter. Klout, I dunno. I'm maxed out on social media, so I keep an eye on my klout score a little, but mainly just to see if I'm climbing or falling, just out of curiosity. I don't actively pay much attention to it. I'm curious to hear/read about other content creators who might be using it more productively?

Hey Ryan, thanks for the post and insights. Do you have any idea what the audience rollover was like from your first release (Graduates) to your next release? How big was the community that followed you from one to the other, and how many new viewers came to see your 2nd movie without seeing the first?

I know these are difficult things to quantify, just after general numbers.

Difficult to quantify for a bunch of reasons, but here's what I can say that might be helpful/interesting. My second film, Drinking Games comes out later this summer (unless you live in LA, NYC or DC and can catch it sooner). It will be a real test of the network and audience we've built. Since The Graduates, however, we've had good success reaching these people on behalf of clients, or to show of our web series', short films, etc. The exact numbers are a little like revealing weight, or age, it's a little personal. I will say the success is strong enough that I've now shot three features and will have released all three by early 2013. My clients are happy. My investors are happy. My audience is continually growing.

Anyways, hope that helps. I will certainly have more info on this in one year, when Drinking Games has been available for 9-12 months.

Ahh, sorry, hadn't noted that Drinking Games wasn't out yet. And yeah, I understand that talking specific numbers is a private matter. Any reference in terms of % increase in your YT hits after the Graduates was released? Did that build a stronger following for you, or was the success of each completely independent?

I started a YT channel a bit more than a year.. I've been posting videos every week. Last month I had 10k subscribers.

Then I tried something new, I made a colab video with another youtuber that had completly diferent audience... In less than a month my channel turned to 20k subs and we doubled our total views.. Also my videos are going really easy to blogs as I have more views and people are sharing..

So the best advice I can give is to make video with other youtubers. Youtube is about sharing and interacting. You have to do this on the INTERNET but also on the REAL WORLD!

As the world for indie filmmakers simultaneously changes, it's easy to be discouraged, but it should just as easily be exciting. Articles like this that directly breakdown some of the chores/steps of personally marketing become more and more valuable tools to someone like me. I savor these articles and file them away as I prep my own projects, or shoot others'. It reminds me a great deal of some of the more logical and valuable articles in Ted Hope's blog. Thank you so much and I hope there's more like this to come!

We have all of this so it's not really a new idea... I was semi-offended with the remark about not having behind-the-scenes, outtakes, clips, etc. on YT. YouTube is not the place to showcase your work (IMO), it's not very professional to live on YT, so that's where it's for "other" stuff you can't find anywhere else. For the actual films themselves, you cannot allow the average user to download it, which YT is vulnerable to. Anyway, if you're curious, here's mine: http://www.youtube.com/DayZeroSurvivors

Great article. The best take away advice is to post consistently and often. Posting one video a week seems like a task, but anything worth having requires work and effort, so I'm up for the challenge. What length do you think is optimal for each video? And do you think personal videos get boring after awhile, week after week?

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